Democrats turn on Obama nominees

President Barack Obama is quickly discovering that getting his nominees confirmed is no simple matter, even with the Senate’s filibuster gutted and Republicans sidelined.

The White House is facing its second Democratic rebellion in less than two weeks over a nomination that’s drawn quick opposition from rural Democratic senators. Obama has enough trouble with the GOP, which is nearly united in opposing Vivek Murthy’s nomination to become surgeon general, but it’s his own party that is again in position to derail another presidential pick.

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Democratic Senate aides estimated on Monday that from eight to 10 Democrats may oppose Murthy’s nomination if the vote were to be held soon, mostly because of his left-leaning views on gun policy, which have attracted opposition from the National Rifle Association. An aide closely following the nomination described a vote for Murthy as carrying “very little political or policy gain but plenty of downside.”

“We’ve worked the nomination. We know that there are several Democrats who have issues,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois on Monday. “It would be problematic if it came up quickly. We need to work with some of our members.”

Murthy is facing the same type of Democratic opposition that derailed Debo Adegbile’s nomination to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division earlier this month. Republicans repeatedly came to the Senate floor to highlight Adegbile’s association with convicted murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal. Adegbile previously worked for the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, which worked in support of Abu-Jamal’s efforts to overturn his death sentence. Ultimately, seven Democrats opposed Adegbile.

The White House said Monday that it is not throwing in the towel on Murthy, but openly acknowledged that the failure of Adegbile’s nomination had caused Obama aides to reassess the best strategy to get the surgeon general nominee through.

“Dr. Murthy, you know, was approved out of committee with bipartisan support,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said at a daily briefing, referring to the backing of a single Republican — Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk. “But after the confirmation vote of Debo Adegbile, we are recalibrating strategy around Dr. Murthy’s floor vote. We expect him to get confirmed ultimately and be one of the country’s most powerful messengers on health and wellness.”

Carney would not elaborate on what connection the White House sees between Adegbile and Murthy. The press secretary said the White house isn’t considering replacing Murthy but that there’s no decision yet about when to press for a floor vote.

“We are recalibrating and reassessing our strategy,” Carney said. “We will make assessments about how and when to move forward accordingly.”

The nomination battles illustrate how quickly Senate politics have shifted since Democrats unilaterally changed the rules in November — the “nuclear option” — to lower the voting threshold needed to advance presidential nominees from 60 to a simple majority.

In the past, failed nominees were easily blamed on Republican obstruction. Now the nomination process is exposing divisions within a party that has generally appeared united in recent years, particularly when compared to the inner turmoil of the GOP.

Democrats quickly seized on their post-nuclear power to approve three previously blocked D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals nominees and former Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) to be a key housing regulator — but the nomination process is reverting to a familiar tough slog. Republicans continue to object to Democratic entreaties to speed up the confirmation process, gripping the remaining procedural power the minority retains.

Meanwhile, the nomination process’s power nucleus has shifted from centrist Republicans to conservative and liberal blocs of the Democratic caucus that can reject a nominee just as easily as the GOP could a few months ago. While the troubled Adegbile and Murthy nominations represent the power of rural Democrats that favor gun rights, Senate liberals will soon have an opportunity to flex their muscles on judicial nominees in Georgia that progressives oppose.

The renewed opposition to Murthy and resounding rejection of Adegbile also expose the need to improve coordination between the White House and Capitol Hill Democrats, particularly in the critical run-up to mid-term elections. Aides privately fumed over having a vote on Adegbile’s nomination, an operation so ill-coordinated that some vulnerable Democrats ended up needlessly voting for a failed controversial nominee — easy fodder for an attack ad from their political opponents.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz declined to comment on Adegbile’s case, but defended the overall system for selecting and vetting nominees.

“This Administration has adopted the highest ethical standards in history, and the caliber of our nominees and their preparedness to serve reflect that high bar. Similar to previous Administrations, all appointments are thoroughly vetted. But current Congressional Republicans have made no secret of the extraordinary lengths they will go to obstruct the confirmation process,” Schultz said.

There are no signs at this point of broad misgivings at the White House over filibuster reform. One official noted that reining in the filibuster led within two months to the confirmation of three Obama nominees to the D.C. Circuit — posts that have the potential to affect key rulings on government power for a generation or more.

The question for the White House now is whether to give up on Murthy or at least postpone the vote in order to avoid putting the party’s vulnerable senators back on the hot seat. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wants to use the GOP’s remaining procedural toolbox to delay the vote as long as he can, but he may want to rethink his calculus if he wants to hurt Democrats. If the vote were held today, Senate insiders say it would fail.

“The White House has to decide what they want to do: Have us take the vote (and lose), fight to bring some Dem votes back, or pull the nom,” a senior Democratic source said.